Thin client computers have recently gained in popularity for providing web browsing and electronic mail applications to users at low cost. The thin client computers achieve low cost by requiring less processing capabilities and memory space than standard PCs. In addition, the thin client computers are generally easier to maintain than standard PCs.
A popular operating system for managing the operation of thin client computers is a Linux operating system. Linux is popular because it may be obtained with little or no license fee. In addition, Linux is an open source operating system, allowing a programmer to easily configure it for the limited processing capabilities and memory space of many thin client computers.
A drawback of a Linux based computer, however, is that a user on the Linux based computer may have a difficult time viewing a file written in a Windows based format, such as Microsoft Word™. Typically, the user on the Linux based computer has two options for viewing the file. The user may utilize a Linux based conversion utility to convert the file into an HTML file, which can then be viewed on the Linux based computer using a web browser application. However, Linux based conversion utilities generally do a moderately poor job of converting a Windows based file into an HTML file. Alternatively, the user may forward the file to a Windows based computer, and then view the file on the Windows based computer. However, this option may inconvenience the user by requiring the user to physically move to the Windows based computer to view the file.